In the Light of the Full Moon
by DarcNiGHT
Summary: A visitor to Robotropolis finds what he was looking for...and a little bit more.
1. Project Crescent

In the light of the full moon Part 1: Project Crescent

By: DarcNiGHT

Sonic and Robotnik and whoever else I mention Óof SEGA Kytan and M.A.X. Óof Samual Turner 

~_I wonder if there is a full moon tonight_~ 

This thought crossed his mind as he slowly padded down the long hallway, his long tail weaving out behind him, twitching in tune with the flickering lights overhead, the gauntlet on his left arm reflecting the fluorescent light. While the power gem in it seemed to capture the tiny bit of light and appeared to glow in the dim hall. 

He couldn't tell because he had snuck into Robotropolis during the day and waited until night to find his way into this building, even when the sun had set he could not tell because of the giant buildings surrounding him and the permanent smog cloud hovering above the city.

This was only one thought of many going through his head as he tried to move silently down the hall, but to his sensitive ears every footstep was like a Swatbot stomping on sheetmetal. He had already disabled every security system he had found on his way in that wasn't already busted, but you never could let your guard down where Dr. Robotnik was concerned.

He listened as hard as he could for any sounds of an alarm going off or guards' coming to get him, but this was a decrepit old building in the ghetto part of the city so the odds of that were very slim. Still he was not going to take any chances. But all he heard was the buzzing of what was left of the hallway lights, his own footsteps, and the quiet hum that M.A.X. made as he followed. A sound that only he or somebody with hearing as good as his could even notice.

"Are you sure that this is the right floor?" he asked for the 5th time.

"Yes, I am positive" M.A.X. responded "This is where the readings are coming from. Are _you_ sure that you disabled any security systems that are still working in this building?"

"Yeah I'm sure," he said back "........... Almost sure" he mumbled looking away.

"_What_ do you mean 'almost'? For all you know this place could be surrounded by Swatbots, Combots, and who-knows what else just waiting for the signal to storm in and get us, turning us into a couple of mindless robots who only live for their bidding..."

He rolled his eyes and just ignored his companion as he had done many times before when M.A.X. rambled on like this. And for the umpteenth time he wondered if he was like this just by a glitch that made his personality (at least the over-protective part) so much like hers, or had she made him this paranoid and over-protective on purpose because of his job as a treasure hunter. Though what they were doing now could be treasure hunting it was more commonly referred to as Theft (same as treasure hunting but people are apt to shoot at you more). He hated to do this, almost as much as when he had to resort to bounty hunting to make some money, but this was Dr. Robotnik so...who cared. 

Looking over at M.A.X. as he continued to rant and rave loudly enough to alert anybody who might be looking for him he thought about whether it was programming or a glitch that made him like this.

Probably the former.

M.A.X. was made especially for him. He was designed to help him on his treasure hunting adventures where the land and the natives might be less then friendly. His name stood for:

****

Multi sensory

****

All terrain

e**X**plorer

(Though sometimes he thought the X could stand for e**X**perimental seeing as how M.A.X. had gotten him _into_ as many scrapes as he has gotten him out of)

He shook himself out of his reminiscing. They had a job to do, hopefully their prize was on this floor and all of the security was offline.

After returning M.A.X.'s attention to the job at hand they both returned to their exploration of this floor, creeping down the hall and looking into each room to see if there was anything in any of them. Mostly there were just offices or dusty, empty laboratories. A quick look at these and they moved on. Then they found it.

It was the last room on the floor (don't you hate it when that happens), through a large security door labeled: Project Crescent, it took him about 35 seconds to disable the lock, which meant it was pretty good, and they were in.

It was a large room, obviously the main room on this floor. Along the left wall, was a bank of computers, most of which were off at the moment, but some still had some blinking lights and a few flickering displays active. Along the right wall was an observation room with windows designed for people to observe any tests that were going on in the main room safely, it was empty. The far wall was a bank of large windows showing the horizon of the city clouded in pollution, with small pieces of the night sky poking through the gray haze here and there.

But even the depressing view or the opportunity to see if the moon was full or not could distract them from the centerpiece of the room. Sitting on a pedestal 3-4 ft. tall right in the middle of the room, with a spotlight shining on it was a large rifle like gun. Upon closer inspection he saw that it wasn't sitting on the pedestal, it was connected to it. And the pedestal itself was connected to the bank of computers by a bundle of black cords snaking across the cold metallic floor. (Cold metallic with a darc blue/black color theme seemed to be the favored architecture in Robotropolis)

M.A.X. went to the computers and started to make a connection with them to find out what this weapon was. While our hero (what, haven't you figured out that this guy is the hero of the story yet?) took a closer look at the pedestal to see if what he thought was there was actually there. After a few rare quiet minutes on both of their parts M.A.X. came back to the pedestal and reported his findings.

"This was a project personally led by Robotnik to develop a weapon that could finally take care of the local rebellion group led by one: Sally Acorn" M.A.X. reported

"I think ive heard of her" was the response as he continued his inspection of the topic of conversation. "She was the daughter of the last king, after Robotnik's takeover she escaped and now leads the main Freedom Fighter group in this area. She must be a real pain in the doctor's side to make him focus his attention on a weapon just to get rid of her and her squad."

"Actually, in the reports from what I can tell, she is not the focus of this project. Robotnik rants and raves about some guy named 'Sonic' and how he would love to 'take care of him once and for all', this weapon was mainly designed to take care of this hedgehog from what I can tell" M.A.X. informed him.

"Huh, really? Never heard of the guy. Oh well not my problem" was the response "So what does this thing do anyway?"

"Well it is kind of imaginative. Its purpose is to hyper energize all of the cells in the body then instruct them to basically pull a 180 on the evolutionary line. Essentially de-evolving any sentient creature to a non-sentient level making them a threat no longer."

"Oooo, nasty" he said "I'm glad I'm not this Sonic guy."

M.A.X. said: "It wouldn't matter if you were, the project was taking too long to get all the bugs out, and Robotnik was spending too much time and resources on it, so it was shut down."

"Well that's good, but just incase he ever wants to do it again I say we do our good deed for the year."

"And just what do you mean by that?" M.A.X. wondered.

"What I mean is: you download all the research and info about this thing then delete everything on the computers, and ill grab the prototype." he answered.

"Good idea but what exactly do you plan to do with it once you get it out of here? Sell it?"

"No way, too dangerous if it ever was perfected. I say we take it to that freedom fighter group that the files talked about, what do you think?"

"I like, I like" the robot said "But doesn't this mean that we get no profit and that this was all a charity mission or something. I mean, what do we get out of it?"

"_this_!" he answered pulling out the power source for the gun.

In his gloved hand he held a power gem almost glowing blue. Similar to the one in his gauntlet, except this one they would sell. And get some serious money for too; they wouldn't have to resort to anything like this for a long time. They stood there staring at the little shiny pebble in triumph……… For about 3 seconds, that's when the gun came online. Small lights along the side and a LCD screen blinked on then the gun itself went off hitting him in the chest with a neon green beam that did...nothing, then shutting down after using all its available power. Apparently this failed prototype was hooked up to the security system itself, a security system that he failed to notice and disarm apparently. Because this same security system chose this moment to go off.

The lights that still worked went red and, after another 10 seconds the alarms stopped, that was a good thing. Then the door slammed shut and locked again while a series of electric blue force fields snapped up over the door and all of the windows, that was a bad thing. He stuffed the gun and the energy pack with the power gem in it into his bag and slung it over his shoulder, while M.A.X. scanned the room looking for a way out.

"Anything?" he asked getting a little nervous as a computer voice came on and basically informed them that they had about one minute before a bunch of explosives went off and made their day a lot worse then it already had been.

"Nothing........ Nothing.......... Nothing.........wait...YES! I've got it." M.A.X. exclaimed. "The force field covering the second window from the right is malfunctioning. If we can disrupt it then we can exit the room"

"Good idea, except for one thing. We are about 15 stories above the ground and I forgot my parachute"

"Actually we are 17 stories up, but that is not the point. In about 20 seconds being in here is not going to be much safer than being out there." he rebuked.

"Good point"

So while M.A.X. kept an eye on the time, he looked for a way to disrupt that annoying little force field. Then he found it, a solid metal chair in the corner. He picked it up and with a little trouble hurled it at the window that M.A.X. indicated as hard as he could. It smashed through the glass and hit the field.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT! Energy crackled around the chair partially melting it in points. Then the field shorted out and the chair fell back into the room smoking and bounced off the windowsill.

"Is it gone?" He asked.

"Yes" was the reply.

"Then lets do the same"

"Good idea, we only have five seconds"

He ran at the windowsill, hopped on the chair to the sill and leaped out the window as far as he could with his companion right in front of him. He went up and out about 12 feet and hovered in the air in a Wile E. Coyote moment with his arms stretched out at his sides for half a second. During which the lab was destroyed behind him in a very impressive explosion lighting up the surrounding buildings in the night. 

He was safe from the blast but not from the pieces of what used to be a lab that were flying at him at the moment. One nice big piece of window frame smacked him right in the back of the head. He had enough time to look up and finally see the moon. It was full.

His last thought before he passed out was:

~_Hey a full moon, I love the full moon_~

Then he fell.


	2. Darc Side of the Moon

In the Light of the Full Moon - Part 2: Darc Side of the Moon

By DarcNiGHT

Sonic, Tails and Robotnik (c) of SEGA

The Freedom Fighters (c) of Archie Comics

Kytan, M.A.X. and any other new characters (c) of Samual Turner

Then he fell.

Whipping past floors, the wind speeding up past him, only semi-conscious. Memories flashed in and out of his head like old bits of film on fast foreword.

__

FLASH playing with his best friend as a child.

__

FLASH watching GMX and Nappa spar in a field near the village.

__

FLASH buildings speeding past him as he falls.

__

FLASH running from swat-bots in a forest on a dark and stormy night.

__

FLASH the ground coming closer. 

__

FLASH lying under the full moon, dreaming about the future.

__

FLASH in a tube surrounded by flames.

__

FLASH falling, a brown blur coming up to him.

* * *

Down at the street the freedom fighters crept along trying to get away from the scene of their latest sabotage as fast as possible without being seen.

"I can't wait to see the look on Robotnik's face when he finds out what happened to his latest robotizer" exclaimed everybody's favorite blue hedgehog. "Shhhhhhh" whispered Sally, the leader of this small band of rebels "With all the new security that Robotnik has put in these last few weeks we have to be extra careful, so be quiet."

"Don't worry Sal" he replied "As soon as that new bomb of Rotor's goes off, our favorite fat dictator is going to be too busy to notice us."

BOOOOM! As if on cue from Sonic, a loud explosion echoes through the streets of Robotropolis. "See? He's so preoccupied now that we could throw a party right here and nobody would know." Just then Rotor walks up with a worried expression on his face. "That couldn't have been my device, Its not set to go off for another two and a half minutes" He shows Sonic the timer on his wrist, "That must have been some other explosion"

"What other explosion?" Sonic asks. "Uh I think he means that one" Tails the smallest of the group points out while pointing up. The whole group looks up at that and sees the last vestiges of a large fireball coming from one of the deserted towers in this part of town fade into the night sky

"You mean that there is ANOTHER group here setting off bombs tonight?" Sonic looks at Rotor and asks when the explosion has dissipated. "I'm not sure what it means" Rotor responds still looking up. "But I do know that we have to get away from this spot before the wreckage gets us" as this is said the first bits of what used to be a 17'th story wall hit the ground a few feet away. Hearing this news the entire group scrambled for cover.

"We've got to get out of here before our own bomb goes off" Rotor reminded everybody "Guards are probably already coming to respond to this first explosion, so we have to haul tail now!"

"Agreed" responded Sally forgetting her earlier argument with sonic "We'll just go around this spot and continue on our --"

"HEY! There's somebody up there!" Tails yelled. "And he's falling fast; i've got to get him." And before anybody can even think about responding Tails jumps up and spinning his two tails like the propellers of a helicopter, zips into the air to save whoever he saw.

"Wait! Stop!" Sally and Sonic yell at the same time, but they are two late. Tails has already flown into the oncoming debris. Rotor grabs a pair of binoculars out of the belt he always carries and looks up to where the dual tailed fox flew.

"He's right there is somebody falling" He focuses on the small figure "and he appears to be unconscious, but he is surrounded by falling wreckage. How does Tails expect to get to him?"

Tails himself answered that question by weaving through the first bits of falling building easily as he continued on his path to meet the falling figure. "Well…silly me." Rotor sighed as he moved his binoculars from the victim to his hopeful savior Tails.

"What I want to know" Sonic asked. "Is how is he even alive? If he had been _in_ that explosion we should dodging pieces of that guy as well as of the building"

"I guess he can explain it himself" Sally answered looking up "If and when Tails gets him"

***

Falling past floor after floor out hero, (Remember? This guys the hero. Why? Cause I said so.) Still wasn't all there. But he came too long enough to see a small brown figure flying up to meet him, dodging the pieces of lab that were apparently trying to beat him to the ground. As the figure came closer he barely make out what he looked like through the fog that was still clouding his brain. Suddenly he was there. Whoever it was grabbed his arms and started to pull him up, slowing his fall. Looking up he could just make out that it was a young fox, about 10 or 11 and that he had two tails. Also he looked vaguely familiar.

"Me…Merlin?" He muttered before he passed out again.

***

"He did it! Tails caught him!" Rotor exclaimed from below continuing his commentary while watching through the binoculars. "But he still has to avoid the biggest pieces of the building before he can land." By now they were close enough that the whole group could see what was going on using the naked eye. Tails had him all right, but the momentum that he had acquired after falling 10 stories had been too much and tails was only slowing him down. But instead of futilely trying to stop the decent Tails was using it for speed and trying to beat the larger pieces to the ground so he could avoid them.

All they could do was watch and hope that Tails knew what he was doing as the wreckage fell faster and faster past him and crashed into the street, making cracks that reached from the building to the Freedom Fighters cover. Finally, just ten feet from the street Tails pulled out of the dive with his cargo safely in tow as the last of the building slammed into the street with enough force to cause a small explosion that echoed down the street and sent up debris everywhere. Also creating a shockwave that spread out from the point of impact and kicked up papers and trash all along the street, rustling fur, quills, ears, and clothes of the Freedom Fighters watching. Kicking up a cloud of dust that spread out across the street and blocked Tails from view. After what seemed like an eternity to those watching he flew out of the cloud with his eyes closed coughing from the smoke.

Setting his cargo in front of the group Tails landed next to Sonic and sat down exhausted from the exertion of his show of stunt flying. "Whoever it is" he said between deep breaths "he could use to shed a few pounds, that guy's a lot heavier than he looks."

"It was probably his pack that was making him so heavy Tails" Sally said as she knelt by the figure who was still sleeping. She unhooked the strap that crossed his chest and moved the pack aside so she could lie him on his back and tend to the wound on his head "It's not as bad as it looks" she said to the group that surrounded them. "Ill just clean the wound and bandage it, then we can wake this guy up and get some answers."

"Shouldn't we get out of here Sal?" Sonic asked getting impatient (Not a hard thing to do.) "Before we have company?"

"We cant just leave him here Sonic whoever comes will get him, and if we take him with us like this we wont make it far before we get caught too." She said as she wrapped the bandages around his head, put her medical equipment back in her small bag and grabbed a tiny jar of smelling salts. Waving the jar under his nose she said, "If we can wake him up now we can all get out of here."

At that the prone figure's eyes sprang open and he jumped up. Backing up to his bag he seemed to size them up as if they were the enemy. While he looked them over Sally did the same since he just stepped out of their cover and into the moonlight where she could finally get a good look at him.

A feline about an inch or two shorter than Sonic, covered in orange fur with black striped on his head arms and body. Wearing a loose pair of simple blue pants with an unusually long black tipped tail with the same black stripes waving from behind him like it had a mind of its own and a pair of blue and gold sneakers. Also he had on the common pair of gloves that seemed to be the fashion for everybody and their grandfather these days Sally thought to herself. 

"Who…. Who are you?" He demanded twitching his black tipped ears, still a little groggy from the hit in the head. But his narrowed yellow eyes stayed focused on her never wavering. He still had enough wits about him to be suspicious of these new people surrounding him. ~_He's not a common civilian_.~ Sally thought to herself. ~_He's keeping his back to us and never letting any of us out of his sight_~

"And what happened" he finished bringing a hand to his new bandages and for the first time they could see the gauntlet on his left arm. The pattern of a claw was etched into the surface and in the center sat a small red gem gleaming in the light of the full moon.

While she took this in he sneaked a quick glance at the building he just made an unorthodox exit from.

"My name's Sally" she said trying to calm him down. "What's yours?"

"M…My name?" He said surprised then paused. ~_Maybe that bump to the head was worse than I thought_~ Sally considered to herself ~_Or maybe he's just trying to figure out what we're up to_.~

He seemed to come to a decision.

"My name's Kytan."

***

"My name's Kytan" he said deciding to trust them for now, seeing as how they saved his life. He kept his attention on the squirrel. Wearing a blue vest and boots with a small pack next to her on the ground and a smaller computer on a strap over her shoulder, she seemed to be the leader of the group.

"Well now that we have done our greetings" Kytan said waving to people behind Sally who hadn't said a thing during they're conversation "Who're they?"

"A reasonable question to ask, let me introduce you" Sally pointed first to an impatient blue hedgehog with bright green eyes next to her who kept glancing up and down the street and tapping one of his red and white sneakers on the ground. "This is my second in command, Sonic."

"Second in command huh. What are you guys some kind of freedom fighter group?"

"That's exactly what we are." Sonic said angrily. 

"Oh"

Sally took this pause to resume the introductions "If you'll let me continue Mr. Kytan, this here is Rotor" she said pointing to a blue walrus wearing a cap and a yellow belt filled with pockets across his shoulder that was easily the tallest of the group.

"Nice to meet you Kytan" Rotor said.

"Uh…Hi" He said slightly confused at the calm these people showed considering where they were and what just happened.

"And here is Antoine" pointing to a coyote in some type of military uniform who was eyeing Kytan suspiciously and fingering the hilt of a sword he had in a scabbard at his waist. "Standing next to him is Bunny Rabbot." Slightly taller than Antoine with a pink sleeveless shirt on and one ear flopped over her eye she would have looked like any other female rabbit Kytan had seen in his travels except for one thing – she was half robotized. Her left arm, both her legs and the bottom half of her body were machine.

"Hiya" She said waving her mechanical arm in a greeting.

~_This is definitely a group with some stories to tell_~ Kytan thought as he observed the introductions. 

"Now what about my second question. What happened?"

"That brings me to the final member of our little group" Sally said pointing behind Sonic to a small brown figure sitting on a crate. "You already met him earlier. Tails?"

Tails got up and stepped foreword with a smile on his face "Hey, nice to see you're O.K."

~_A little taller, a lot older and they would be the same_~ Kytan snapped out of it and shook the boy's hand. "Thanks, I owe you my life out there. I was too out of it to even try to do anything"

"Ah, it was nothing for a freedom fighter" he seemed embarrassed at getting attention for a simple thing like that. "With all the training exercises I did with Sonic dodging those things was a piece of cake."

"Even if it was nothing to you, I'm still here to be able to thank you."

"Just what were you doing up there anyway?" Sonic stepped foreword demanding. 

"Uh…well I was just doing a little explor--"

"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!" A mechanical voice rang out through the night. Everybody spun around at the sound. Down the street that the freedom fighters had come, a squad of swat-bots were racing, having spotted the little group and were now attempting to apprehend them.

"Great, they're early" Rotor said.

"What do you mean 'early'?" Kytan called out as they dodged blaster fire from the robots.

"We have our own little explosive set to go off in a bit" Rotor responded while ducking behind the same wall that Kytan used for cover as scarlet bolts of energy splashed off the ground where they had just been standing. "They weren't supposed to come till it, and we had both been off for a while"

"So when is your little gift for Robotnik supposed to arrive?" Kytan asked.

"Right about…"

BABOOOOOOOOOOOM! The second explosion of the night thundered throughout the street, blowing out the wall, engulfing the small team of bots in flames and giant chunks of steel and concrete while collapsing the building next to them where the blast originated.

"Now" Rotor finished with a smile after the blast had settled down.

Kytan thought to himself ~these are definitely professionals, even if they are around my own age.~ Aloud he said, "With all these fireworks going on you'd think that there was a party going on."

"You're telling me." Sonic said, coming out from behind another wall.

"Now don't start that again Sonic." Sally said following him out. "I think those two explosions within five minutes and the fact that those particular swat-bots wont be reporting in anytime soon" she said pointing to the remains of the robots. "Will definitely get Robotnik's attention and we should probably leave as soon as possible"

"I agree." Said Kytan from behind them

"So Mr. Kytan" Sally said turning around "Do you want to come with us or do you think you'll be fine on your –"

He was gone.

"Well I guess that answers my question." She looked over at where his pack was laying, it was gone too. "I think we should follow his example and disappear before anybody else arrives."

"Yeah, ill scout ahead," Sonic said, then in a blur he was gone, as was his style.

"I think it's a good thing he's gone" Antoine muttered as they left "I did not trust 'em"

***

"The feeling is mutual dude." Kytan said from the rooftop of a nearby building, watching them leave.

"So, you didn't even bother too look for me did you?" Said a voice from behind him with a slight metallic twang to it.

"Hey, I just woke up. Plus I figured you could find me easily." Kytan responded not turning around.

"Well you do have a point there," M.A.X. said "but you could have at least tried to…oh forget it." He sighed and let the matter drop. "So what are our plans now, we have the power source and the gun. What do you want to do with them?"

"I figure that the gem we keep of course."

"Of course."

"But the gun, even if it doesn't work it could still be dangerous if in the wrong hands." Kytan said still watching the freedom fighters leave.

"So whose exactly are the right hands?" M.A.X. asked.

"Theirs" Kytan answered pointing to Sally and the others.

"Huh, theirs? But you just met them didn't you? Or are they old friends of yours that I never met?"

"Yeah I just met them and I don't really trust them. But two things. One: If they really are freedom fighters I can trust the gun in their hands better than any others can. And I can't keep it on me."

"What about destroying it?"

"I don't know how, and if I did it could explode or leak some kind of radiation. You never know what could happen when Robotnik is concerned."

"And the second thing?"

"That young fox saved my life, I owe him. If he hadn't I wouldn't have been able to save myself in time because of that hit in the head I got up there. That reminds me I could use some aspirin, i've got a killer headache." He picks up his bag taking a close look at it. "This got pretty damaged in the blast." He said pointing to the burns and tears in it. "I hope it lasts, maybe I can patch it up on the way."

"First:" M.A.X. said, "Could you please patch me up I got a few bad dents in that fall and I can't exactly repair myself."

"O.K. as soon as we get out of here" He said taking two small pills and washing them down with some water from his rations. "Lets get going before somebody finds out what we did, I already got the weirdest feeling that somebody was watching us up there. This place gives me the creeps."

"Me too, lets go."

The two of them packed up and climbed down from the rooftop, then they followed the same path that the freedom fighters had taken, not knowing that the weirdest things were yet to come. 

***

Deep in the woods of the Great Forest, Kytan sat on a log tending to M.A.X.'s damage. They had been following the trail of the freedom fighters for a few hours. The trail had been very well hidden and difficult to follow, but they hadn't become the best treasure hunters around without some pretty good trailing skills. Then M.A.X.'s damage had prevented him from going any further and they had to stop so Kytan could make repairs. Luckily they were far enough away from the city to not have to worry about any or Robotnik's patrols finding them.

"But what about the trail of the freedom fighters, how can we follow it if we waste time here?" M.A.X. complained _again._

"Sigh. The trail will still be there in the morning. And if you keep moving ill never get this done." Kytan said with a smack to M.A.X.

"Hey! That hurt. What do you think you're doing? I'm damaged goods here."

"That couldn't have hurt, you're a robot, you don't feel pain. Remember?"

"Well it could have hurt," he said sounding hurt.

"You will be fine it's nothing major. I did what I could but you still have a few damaged systems. So try to stay out of trouble till I can fix all of your systems OK?"

"Ill try to not go flying out of any more 17th story lab windows for a few days" M.A.X. said his voice somehow dripping with sarcasm.

"If you can still be sarcastic I can tell that you'll be fine, now get up."

He got up and went over to a nearby pond to look at his reflection.

"Well you got out all the dings in my shell; I'm still one beautiful bot. But I'm still having trouble seeing into the infra red"

Kytan's reflection appeared besides his also looking into the pool. "Well I did the best I could with the tools I have, plus I'm not exactly an expert at robotics. Just be glad I was able to repair your night vision." He started snickering "You hit every single tree between Robotropolis and here."

"Veeery funny, come on you orange furball lets get some sleep."

"Boy, you hit a few hundred oaks and you get ugly." He looked at the reflection of the moon between them. "But you have a point, we should turn in." 

Yawning his fangs glinting in the moonlight, he turned around and went back to his bag. "First I want to check that we still have all that junk that we went through all that for." Opening the bag he started to go through the possessions within digging through the normal stuff to get to what he was looking for. Food provisions, computer hacking tools, lock picking kit, camping equipment, flashlight, assortment of small weapons, an old pair of night vision goggles, grappling hook and cord. (Normal equipment for a treasure hunter.) Finally he got to the things that they acquired during their little shopping trip to Robotnik's lab: A blue power gem to be sold to the highest bidder, an experimental gun designed to de-evolve any creature it hits to right before the point of sentience on the evolutionary scale, the disk containing all of the files that Dr. Robotnik had on the gun and its effects, and one hell of a story to tell the kiddies.

"Good, still here, I was afraid that with all the damage done to the bag during the blast that they had fallen out of a hole and were now buried under all that rubble at the bottom of the building." Kytan started packing up and making his bed for the night.

"It's good to know that we didn't do that just for the fun of it." M.A.X. said preparing to go into rest mode to recharge.

"Yeah, now go to sleep before I turn you off, I don't want to have to listen to you complain all night about your damage like last time."

"Yes, _mother_"

Kytan just groaned and rolled over in his sleeping bag. It was like this every night; one of them would annoy the other till somebody gave up, you'd think that they were brothers the way they argue. It was like some kind of game to them. And tonight M.A.X. won.

***

Sleeping…Dreaming…

Sitting in front of a crackling campfire in the forest, sitting next to the young kitsune, the flickering firelight illuminating them and almost reaching the trees and bushes surrounding them from which the sounds of the forest at night come…suddenly the noises stop…looking around…seeing them, two glowing red eyes from the bushes, watching…watching…waiting…

***

Morning came in the Great Forest just like it did everyday; the sun slowly rose over the hills lighting up the forest in its gentle morning light, and as the rays of the sun filter down through the trees illuminating small patches of forest. The non-sentient creatures of the forest gradually rise to begin their day and slowly but surely the forest becomes alive with the sound of the dinural creatures of the forest rising early to search for food. 

For the sentient creatures of the forest however, sometimes it takes more to get them to rise than just the rays of the sun.

"Hey! Kytan! Time to get up!" M.A.X. called to Kytan for the fifth time that morning.

"Come on already. I know you're a nocturnal animal you lazy pile of fur, but we have to go and I've been trying to wake you up for 10 minutes now so GET UP!"

M.A.X. got the same reaction he had been getting for the past ten minutes; Kytan just mumbled something about another minute and rolled over in his sleeping bag. M.A.X. just sighed and continued his verbal assault in the hopes that Kytan would just get so annoyed at him that he would get up just to shut M.A.X. up. But today that wasn't the case and after another five minutes he realized that he wouldn't be waking up anybody that way today. So he got as close as he could to Kytan's arm and sent a small electrical jolt through his shell and to Kytan.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Kytan yelled and sprang up a bit surprised -- but mostly angry. He took a swing at M.A.X. and before the robot had a chance to do anything he was flying back into a nearby bush while Kytan glared at him angrily. 

"Hey! What's the idea? You trying to light me up like a Christmas tree or something?"

"Sorry" M.A.X. said obviously not. As he got out of the bush he continued. "The sun has been up for an hour and a half now; I have been trying to get you up for fifteen minutes. We would have gotten up earlier but my internal chronometer has apparently malfunctioned. That was a last resort move, we have to get going."

"Oh, sorry about the little hit I gave you then. I don't know why I couldn't get up."

"Might I remind you that you _never _get up on time." 

"Well yeah I know." He said with a sheepish grin. "But I guess I had a harder time getting up today."

"You're telling me." M.A.X. said while shaking a twig out of a hole near his optical lens. "But tired or not we have to get going, we don't know how much farther the freedom fighter camp is."

"Relax, they cant be that much farther. They have to stay close to the city to continue to fight back easily. Plus I've got to have some breakfast I'm starving!"

"Ok, fine a small breakfast" M.A.X. said but by then Kytan had already gotten into the bag and was going for the food packs. Pulling out a breakfast bar and some water, he opened them and started eating. After a few minutes he paused and watched some of the wildlife gather their own food.

"I'm getting tired of this ration stuff, I miss fresh food. Forget this, I'll grab some fruit on the way, come on lets go." At that they packed up and after Kytan put on a cloak he got from one of his travels because mornings in the forest were cold this time of year, they set off on the same hidden trail that the freedom fighters had taken the night before.

***

After a few hours of walking through the forest they had yet to find any sign of the freedom fighters or any village where they might be.

"What are we going to do when we do find them?" M.A.X. asked while they climbed over a log. "They probably aren't the most trusting group of mobians around. And after what happened last night, you just showing up at their camp might make them suspicious."

"You have a point there; I guess ill just try to get them to believe that we mean no harm and that they have no reason to start shooting at us." Said Kytan grabbing a small oval blue piece of fruit from a nearby Bluebell tree and taking a large bite out of it

"What? You mean that you're just going to play it by ear again? I hope you remember what happened last time we did something like this to –."

"Stop I think I hear something." Kytan said stopping short and grabbing M.A.X. to prevent him from continuing. "Up ahead, sounds like a village."

"We would have known about it sooner if my systems had not been damaged so much, I hope this reminds you to get me fixed as soon as possible."

"Yeah yeah just hold on, I'm going to scout ahead, if it is their village I'll tell you then go in."

"And just what exactly am I supposed to do?"

"You'll just wait here till I come back for you, no offense but I don't think you will get the friendly reaction out of these people that we are hoping for." He said taking another bite.

"Good point, I'll just wait here, all alone and bored."

"Don't think of it like that." He said with a smile. "Think of it as being my backup."

"Fine, fine just don't take to long." He sighed.

"Don't worry this shouldn't take long." At that he went ahead pushing the branches of a large fern out of his way and continued on the tiny trail to see if there was a village ahead and if there was if it really was the base of the freedom fighters.

***

Sonic, Sally and Tails were going to the mess hall to have lunch when Antoine and St. John came up to them.

"What's the problem guys?" Sally said noticing the look of urgency on their faces.

"Let me guess." Said Sonic with a smirk on his face. "You found out that Ant has a twin brother and somehow there are two of him running around annoying people?"

Antoine glared at sonic as he had done many times before but resigned from starting another argument because of the reason that they were there.

St. John just ignored Sonic and turned to the princess answering her question. "Antoine told me about this Kytan guy you ran into last night. I thought the encounter sounded a little suspicious so I investigated the name." He handed her a printout. "Not much is known about him but this is what I could find out. His family ran like cowards to avoid fighting in the Great War when he was a few years old and that was the last anybody heard of them."

"Well that was a great story but there's a chilly dog with my name on it waiting for me" Sonic said as he walked past them.

"Wait, I said that was the last anybody heard of his _family_." Sonic stopped "But three or four years ago we started getting reports of a new treasure hunter going about. Most of the time he would just be paid to search a ruin or cave for an artifact or gem for whoever hired him, but sometimes the highest bidder who wanted a little bounty hunting or even theft would hire him. And it doesn't seem to matter who hired him or what they wanted him to get for them as long as they paid him."

"So, what are you saying exactly?" Sally asked.

"I mean, what if it isn't a coincidence that you met him last night. What if Robotnik hired him to find us?"

"He sure picked a weird way to do it." Said Sonic. "First he falls out of a building and Tails has to catch him, then he leaves before we can even ask to come back with us. Not exactly the way to gain our trust and find out where our base is."

"All ve are saying is that maybe ve should be careful if he shows up again" Antoine to both Sonic and Sally.

"I don't think that he was faking any of what happened last night." Tails said, speaking quietly.

"What do you mean Tails?" Sonic asked turning to him.

"I mean that when I got to him in the air he was definitely unconscious, he was too out of it to save himself" said Tails with more confidence "Plus he sounded sincere when we got to the ground" Tails said remembering how Kytan treated him after he saved him. "Also that injury he got was real."

"He has a point there St. John" Sally said turning back to the officer "I cleaned and dressed his wound, it was real. And fresh too, it hadn't begun to coagulate at all; he must have got it a minute or two before. Those are some very big risks to take just to get near us."

"Sure makes him seem clumsy to meet us falling from a building." Said Sonic "Seems with his record that he was up there looking for something then—"

"Then he could have found one of Robotnik's traps" Tails finished for him.

"Still seems very convenient," St. John said "We had better be on our toes, just incase he shows up again."

"Yeah, and if he does show up make sure that you don't let on that you suspect him of anything." Said an amused voice from behind them.

***

M.A.X. waited at the same spot for Kytan to return, either calmly walking out of the bushes with good news one way or the other. Or for him to come calmly running out with a mob or some creature hot on his heels, (which was always bad news).

~_Both of which have happened_~ he thought sadly

He started to pace back and forth wondering what could have happened and whether he should just throw caution to the wind (which for these two was usually like _spitting_ into the wind) and go after him. He had just gone over the pros and cons of this plan for the 7th time when he heard a sound that he couldn't have made himself; the snap of a twig from a footstep. Turning around he saw a young feline kit hiding behind a rock.

~_Looks a lot like Kytan_~ He thought looking at the child ~_except for the fact that this little one has black and white fur, is about 11 years younger and is a girl. Plus she obviously doesn't know what I am or she would be running for somebody_~ He sighed to himself ~_probably somebody with a gun the way things have been going lately_~ 

She was looking at him with a confused expression, like she didn't know exactly what he was. M.A.X. decided to at least introduce himself (at least he's a gentleman, unlike most of you guys.)

"Hello, it's nice to meet you"

"Hi!" She said perking up at the idea that she had found somebody to talk to, and that he wasn't just some silent robot. "Its nice to meet you too" she said this remembering all the times her mother had told her to be nice to people who are nice to her. (How many of you ladies would be that nice to a robot you just found pacing in the woods, hmmm?)

"My name's M.A.X." he said wondering what anybody would think if they walked into this conversation, _especially_ Kytan. "What's yours?"

"Oh, my name is Ka—"

"Katrina!" A voice rang out making them both jump. "Come on Kat, enough hide and seek, its lunchtime"

"Oops it's my uncle Quatrain, I guess I forgot how long we had been playing." She leaned forward with a smile on her face and whispered "He's not very good at this so I usually let him find me after a while." She laughed and turned around.

"Uncle, Uncle I'm over here I just met a talking metal toy. Come and meet him."

M.A.X. ignored the toy remark and instead said, "I don't think its such a good idea that I meet your uncle."

"Don't worry its ok, he's a member of His Majesty's Secret Service. He won't be surprised at how you look. He's seen _everything!_" She said with admiration in her voice.

"Oh, well if he's a—What!? He's a secret service agent?!" He repressed the urge to utter a few words that you really don't want to say in front of a child. "Maybe it would be better if I left before he arrived, I don't think he would want to meet me."

"No, don't worry" she replied "He likes everybody"

M.A.X. thought that he would be the exception to that particular rule but any response that he had to that statement was cut short by the arrival of Katrina's uncle. He pushed his way through the same fern that Kytan moved when he left. Easily taller than Kytan by 4-5 inches and older by about 5 years, his long gray and white fur moved slightly in the breeze as he knelt by Katrina and turned her the way he came.

"No more games, its time for lunch."

"But my friend—" she said turning back to him.

"Ok, your friend can come too" he said looking around as if her friend was standing behind her. "He can have some too"

~_At least he probably wont recognize me_~ M.A.X. thought as they conversed.

Katrina sighed and said; "He's not imaginary he's right behind you" she pointed over his shoulder.

Her uncle turned around as with a smirk on his face as if he expected to not see anybody or at least some other kid from the village. As he turned M.A.X. noticed the loaded weapon at his waist that only the majesty's secret service carried.

~_What kind of person would wear a loaded weapon at this time of morning while playing a game with a small kit!?_~

When Quatrain finally saw M.A.X. his eyes, the same shade of green as Katrina's widened to the twice their size. Jumping in front of Katrina he pulled out his gun and started shooting.

~_Guess that answers my question._~M.A.X. thought as he hid behind a tree.

"It's an Overlander probe. Katrina run!"

~_And I guess he recognized me_~

Ignoring Katrina yelling at him as just a sign of her fear, Quatrain continued to shoot at the tree that M.A.X. was hiding behind.

M.A.X. was about to retaliate when he remembered that all of his offensive systems were still damaged.

~_Forget being backup, I NEED backup, as soon as I get a chance I'm going to go find Kytan and we are getting the hell out of here, gun or no gun._~

A few seconds later Quatrain stopped shooting to see if his target was still hiding behind what used to be a healthy tree. As soon as he did, in a blur of gray and silver M.A.X. shot off in the direction that Kytan had gone and Quatrain had come.

~_It's always somebody with a gun_.~ he thought as he went in the direction that he hoped Kytan had gone.

Noting what direction that his quarry had fled, Quatrain pulled out his radio and tuning to the emergency frequency, activated it and started yelling; "Intruder alert, an Overlander probe has found its way to the village, I engaged it and it fled towards the center of Knothole should I pursue?" After a few seconds St. John's voice came back a lot calmer than his had been. "_Affirmative, give me your position and we shall cut it off._" Quatrain gave him his location and turning off his radio and replacing it with his weapon started to run after M.A.X. After a few feet he stopped and turned around.

"Kat, go straight to the cellar in your cabin and wait for me to return." And without waiting for a response ran back the way he came. Katrina just stood there for a moment surprised at all that had just happened in the span of 30 seconds. After gathering her wits she decided to go after her uncle and see why he was shooting at her new friend.

"And I was looking forward to lunch too." She said to herself as she too dived through the fern that had been used so many times in the past few minutes.

***

"Don't worry, if I see him I wont tell him a thing." Said the figure in the black cloak, standing 10 feet behind them, he appeared to hear the entire conversation. Though his face was covered it was obvious who it was.

"And just who are you?" St. John said. (Ok, maybe I was wrong.)

"I'll give you three guesses." The figure said taking a bite of the Bluebell fruit in his hand, as he did this the sleeve of his cloak slid down and revealed a silver/gray gauntlet with a gem in the center. "And the first two don't count."

"Kytan" St. John said, his hand slowly moving towards his crossbow.

"Ding, ding, ding, got it on the first try. You deserve a cookie." He began to pat his cloak. "Sorry fresh out, but if you do go for that weapon of yours I _will_ give you something, and it sure as hell wont be a cookie."

St. John stopped reaching for his crossbow but didn't move his hand away either.

"And why exactly should I trust you? A common bounty hunter and thief, you don't even have the courage to show your face."

"First of all; I am not a thief, and I only do bounty hunting when I have to, unlike some people I don't have an entire village to support me. And second I don't have to show my face to anybody if I don't want to. I'm here in good faith and with a good reason too."

Sally stepped between Kytan and the others noticing that Sonic, Jeffery, _and_ Antoine were giving Kytan the same suspicious look that they saved for each other. Hoping to get to the good faith part before the inevitable fight broke out, and hoping to get a few of her unanswered questions, well answered.

"So what exactly are you doing here then? Last night you left before I could ask you to come with us and I took that as a sign that you had no interest in us."

"I didn't." Kytan said bluntly but noticing the looks of suspicion changing to anger decided to elaborate. "Don't get me wrong I am eternally grateful for being saved back there." With a nod to Tails. "But since you didn't hire me and you weren't potential customers for what I got in the tower I had no use for you so I left."

"Why the sudden change of heart?" Sonic asked.

"And what iz this thing you got in ze tower?" Antoine asked getting more suspicious. (If that was even possible.)

"First things first." He said turning to Sonic. "I realized that part of what I had taken from the tower could be very dangerous in the wrong hands, even though there pretty much aren't any hands more dangerous than the previous owners, there are still some people who definitely also have the wrong hands. And since trying dispose of it would be too dangerous to the environment and me, I figured the best recourse would be to give it to people who could deal with it responsibly. And if you were the freedom fighter group that's supposed to be around here, I figured you would be the best people to give it to, now that I've met you I'm starting to doubt that."

"Well, for your information we _are _the Freedom Fighters." St. John said "So why don't you just hand over whatever 'dangerous' trinket you found in Robotropolis and be on your way. And just forget where this place is while you're at it."

"Your compassion for my well being just warms my heart." Kytan said with a deadpan face. "Its not like you have convinced me to give you anything anyway."

Just as St. John was about to yell a retort (read: threat) Sally interrupted him.

"Just what is it that you found? Maybe we can take it off your hands and dispose of it properly if you feel it is too dangerous."

A small smile crossed Kytan's face. "Finally, somebody who wants to talk business."

"Now wait here, don't think that ve are paying for anything that you—"

Kytan held up a hand to silence Antoine. "Just a figure of speech, I am not going to charge you for this, I'll be glad to get it out of my hands. I want nothing more to do with it."

"Again, what _is_ it?" Sally asked getting frustrated at the constant interruptions.

"As I was going to say. If Robotnik perfected it. He would have a potentially deadly weapon on his hands. It's designed to de—"

"_Intruder Alert!" _A static voice came out of the communicator that St. John kept on his belt. "_An Overlander probe has found its way to the village, I engaged it and it fled towards the center of Knothole, should I pursue?"_

"Affirmative, give me your position and we shall cut it off." St. John said noticing that Kytan was very interested in what was happening. When Quatrain gave his location Kytan's eyes went wide and he forgot all about the gun. "Oh no, M.A.X."

"Huh, who is Max? Do you know what's going on here?" Sonic asked. As St. John ran off.

Kytan turned towards the direction he had come. "M.A.X. is my partner, he was waiting for me outside the village near where the probe was spotted, and he was damaged last night at Robotropolis and can't defend himself. I have to help him." With that he ran after St. John. With a quick look at each other, Sonic and Tails ran ahead, finally with a sigh and a roll of her eyes Sally followed. Making sure that he always had an eye on Kytan, Antoine jogged off too.

***

Turning a corner M.A.X. was dismayed to find himself cut off by a wall of trees in front of him and cabins on either side. Spinning around presented the fact that Quatrain and a small group of armed villagers had cut off his only route of escape.

"Face it probe." Quatrain said with a smirk, taking careful aim not to miss the next time. "There is no way out, nobody here to help you."

"Two things wrong with that" M.A.X. said as he saw Kytan come running up. " I am not a probe, and" if he could smile he would have "I _do_ have help."

***

Running down a dirt path, his cloak flowing behind him, Kytan saw M.A.X. trapped in an alley with a small group of people blocking his exit, and at the head of that group was a cat in a Secret Service uniform with a gun aimed at his partner, _big_ mistake.

He dodged past the people with farm implements as weapons and went straight for his target, leaping up and planting on hand on the armed cat's head he flipped over until he was upside down balanced on his target's head. As his momentum carried him over Kytan smashed what was left of the Bluebell fruit in the cat's face and pushed him back. Completing his flip, his feet landed solidly on the ground kicking up a bit of dust. Kytan spun around and faced the cat, placing himself between him and M.A.X.

Without looking at M.A.X.: "I can't take you anywhere, can I?"

"Well, its not like I _planned_ this or anything."

"Are you damaged?."

"Well I did fall out of a building last night."

"I meant within the past 10 minutes."

"I'm not sure, I think he did get me a bit though."

"_what?!_" Kytan said turning to M.A.X. for the first time, and seeing that two inches above M.A.X.'s optic receptor was a small black mark that wasn't there this morning. Two inches lower and he would have been critically damaged.

Kytan spun back around to face the cat that shot his partner. Under his hood his eyes narrowed and a growl escaped his lips that was more beast than anything else as the Secret Service Agent wiped some of the fruit from his eyes and took aim again.

Taking a few quick short steps foreword and swinging his right foot up, Kytan kicked the gun out of his hand and straight into the air, taking a small hop with his left foot he brought his right foot over and planted it on the ground while he planted his left foot square in his quarry's chest sending him flying back, landing a foot in front of the stunned crowd that had gathered. Holding out his hand, Kytan caught the gun that had finally fallen to the ground and pointed it right at its owner. Pulling down his hood and letting another growl out Kytan just stared at his target for what seemed like an eternity.

Then forever ended and all hell broke loose. (Always wanted to say that.)

***

Sonic, Sally, and Tails arrived at an unusual scene. Pushing through a crowd of angry villagers with weapons at the ready they saw this: Kytan with his hood down his ears flattened against his head and a look of pure anger on his face, was holding a Secret Service agent at bay with his own weapon. Fellow agents and a small kit with a look of fear and confusion on her face were helping the agent in turn off the ground. While he wiped what looked a lot like the remnants of a bluebell fruit off his face. Next to him St. John and the rest of his squad had their weapons trained on Kytan and the Overlander probe droid behind him.

Kytan backed up a few feet and called over his shoulder; "M.A.X. get behind me."

M.A.X. moved up beside Kytan and Sally finally got a good look at him. A spherical robot the size of a basketball, floating up at eye level, definitely Overlander design. The ends of the sphere were sliced off and were a few inches away from the sphere connected by a small series of wires and supports, they glowed blue. Down the center of the sphere was a small crevice that went all the way over and under, in the center of this was a small optical sensor that could move up and down this crevice like a track. A few small antennas were spread out across its top.

Looking closer, Sally could see that Kytan's partner had taken damage; one of his antenna were bent, dents were plentiful across his surface, one of his glowing blue extensions kept flickering, and there was a black mark at the very top of his shell.

St. John stepped foreword keeping his crossbow trained on Kytan and the probe next to him. "Put down the weapon, and step away from the probe"

"I'm gonna go with 'no' on that one." Kytan growled keeping Quatrain's weapon on him.

"I'm not going to give you more warnings, if you put the gun down then maybe we wont shoot you, you can just give us whatever weapon you found in Robotropolis and we can let you go."

Kytan narrowed his eyes and his ears twitched the slightest bit, he then thrust both arms out to his sides, his left hand with the gun in it pointing to the alley behind one of the cabins and his right arm pointing to the side window in the other.

"You accuse me of being a spy for that scum Robotnik, insult my way of living, and then almost destroy my partner." At that he twitched the gun foreword a few times as if to aim it back at Quatrain but deciding against it. "And you expect me to just _give_ you the gun and be on my merry way, I think not. What I want." At this he did swing his arms forward and aimed at Quatrain again. "Is a reason not to just up and shoot this punk right now."

Katrina's eyes widened in fear at hearing this, noticing M.A.X. came up and tried to reason with Kytan.

"Now look Kytan; can't we just talk this out with them? We did come here with peaceful intentions in mind. Plus this agent here was only doing his duty, I _am_ constructed from an old Overlander probe aren't I?"

"Well yeah, I guess I forgot"

"So it was a mistake, that's no reason to go shooting him with his own weapon, we're here, they're here. Let's just put down our weapons and talk this over."

Sally, noticing an opportunity, stepped foreword.

"He has a point, why don't we just put down our weapons before somebody does something they might regret."

"Princess, I don't think that is such a good idea with this guy's record and what just happened, for us to just lower our weapons –" St. John started to argue but Sally cut him off.

"That wasn't a suggestion St. John." She said her voice getting hard as steel. "It was an order, now lower your weapons."

Reluctantly, St. John lowered his weapon, and the other solders followed suit. Seeing this Kytan too lowered his armament. But he did not drop it or give it back. (He's not stupid.)

"And before we go on." Sally continued. "I think you should show us what you came to give us, and we can decide if we can take it for you." She said looking at Kytan.

"Agreed." Kytan said, and taking off his bag, he slowly placed it on the ground and pulled out the gun. He tossed it to Sally but before she could catch it, St. John caught it out and with a quick glare at Kytan, began to inspect the gun. After a minute or two he finished his inspection.

"_This _is what you came all the way here to give us? This is nothing more than a simple energy rifle with some adjustments and a few circuits added here and there. Princess, obviously this is faked just so he had a reason to follow you and find out where Knothole is. Men?" At this all of the soldiers brought their weapons up again and aimed them at Kytan.

"Obviously you are not the brains of this operation." Kytan retorted not even bothering to raise his own weapon. "If I wanted to find this place or if I was some thief you would not have even known I was here, and I sure wouldn't have needed to make up a reason for being here either." Kytan reached down and grabbed a computer disk out of his bag. "I also downloaded this from the computers in the same lab I got the gun from, and then M.A.X. erased the computer's memory." He rubbed the bandage on his head. "Not that it was really needed."

He tossed the computer disk to Sally and this time before she or St. John could catch it, Sonic snatched it out of the air and with a smirk at St. John he handed it to Sally. She opened the small computer at her side and put the disk in. A few seconds later a female voice came out of the instrument.

"Security codes and research design schematics match those of previous Robotnik experiments."

"See its real. No matter what solder boy says."

"I can verify its authenticity Princess." Said M.A.X. "I have visual records of our discovery of the weapon."

"Ze are probably faked." Antoine said walking up with a glare at Kytan and M.A.X.

"You can test the footage if you wish." M.A.X. said, "I assure you it is real."

"One last thing." St. John said aiming the rifle at Kytan, and before anybody could even say anything he pulled the trigger—and nothing happened.

"Why did you even take the time to give this to us, it doesn't even work."

"It does work." Kytan rolled his eyes and reached into the bag for a third time. He pulled out a large rectangular disk with a power gem in the center. "But it needs this."

Sonic and St. John stepped foreword as if they were going to compete for whom got to catch the power source.

"Actually." Kytan said placing the gun's battery back in his bag and swinging the bag onto his back. "The gem stays with me, you guys get the rest."

"Now wait a minute." St. John said. "If the gem is used in a part of the gun we are going to need it also for tests, so hand it over."

"Oh, when you put it that way…no."

"Look, Having the power source would help us a lot in understanding the gun and deciding what to do with it." Sally said.

"The disk Kytan gave you has all of Robotnik's research and records on the weapon princess." M.A.X. said. "But we need the gem; it's why we were in Robotnik's laboratory in the first place. Once we sell it we'll—"

"You're just going to sell the gem?" Sonic said.

"No I'm going to make tail jewelry out of it." Kytan said getting tired of having to explain their actions. "Of course we are going to sell it, we weren't up there risking out lives for some Freedom Fighter sabotage mission. We were up there to make a profit, and we will once we find a buyer."

Before anybody could argue Sally spoke up. "That's ok, we do not need the gem to decide what to do with the gun. You earned it and you shall be allowed to keep it."

Kytan smiled and made a slight bow. "Thank you Princess."

St. John decided to continue to argue. "But Princess, we need the gem to make tests on the gun, see if it actually works and how dangerous it is."

"Actually we don't need the gem to power the gun." Nicole spoke up. "The only reason a power gem was used was the gun requires a large amount of energy and a power gem is the smallest and most portable source of the required energy."

"Exactly." M.A.X. agreed. "Almost any generator can produce the amount needed but a power gem made it portable, since you are only going to do tests on the gun you do not need it to be operable in the field."

"You weren't planning on using the weapon in the field were you?" Kytan asked a small smirk forming on his face.

"No, but having the power pack would make any tests a lot easier."

"The subject is closed St. John." Sally said. "Kytan was considerate enough to bring us the gun and all the research that he risked his life—"

"Ahem." (M.A.X.)

"Correction, _their_ lives to get. And without asking anything in return. So he shall be allowed to keep the gem."

"Actually, I am going to have to ask for something from you." Kytan said, a little annoyed at the fact that they thought he would just hand over the gem if they told him to.

"Aha, I knew that he would have ze trick up his sleeve." Antoine said.

"And just what is it that you ask?" Sally asked getting a little suspicious herself.

"Well, my partner had a lot of damage after last night's adventure. And having blueboy over there." He pointed to Quatrain who still had a blue tinge in his fur after having got the fruit off his face. "Shoot at him sure didn't help matters. I myself have only limited electronics skills and have only been able to fix him a bit, the only price I ask is that you help me repair him and get him to the shape he was in 24 hours ago."

"A reasonable request, you two can stay here until repairs are complete."

"Thank you, I hope we won't impose on you for long." M.A.X. said.

"You won't impose; it is the least we can do after all you went through to get the gun."

"Great, now that that's settled." Sonic said. "Maybe now I can get some lunch, hey Tails I'll race ya."

"Sure Sonic, but only if I get a ten-second head start."

"Sure buddy."

At that Tails jumped in the air, and spinning his twin tails just like he had done the night before flew down the path and was gone. Sonic counted ten seconds impatiently while tapping his foot and saying to himself: "There is no way he's getting the last chilidog." Then, in a blur of blue, a cloud of dust, and the sound of his stomach rumbling, the hedgehog was gone.

"Oh, lunch I'm starving." Kytan said and started to follow at a much slower pace as St. John and his men started to dispel the not so angry crowd and Rotor took the gun and computer disk.

"But you just ate, how can you be hungry?"

"Simple M.A.X. half of my breakfast went into that Secret Service Agent's face… which reminds me, I should apologize to him." With that he turned and started to follow Quatrain and Katrina as they went to have lunch themselves—and to wash what was left of the bluebell fruit off of Quatrain's face. M.A.X. started to follow but Rotor stopped him.

"Wait, you should probably come with me and Bunnie, I'm going to do a checkup on her robotic parts and start my tests on the gun you two gave us. I can see how much on you needs to be fixed while I'm at it."

"Sure, it's nice to meet you, the name's M.A.X."

"Mine's Rotor and this is Bunnie." He responded and pointed to the Half-robot rabbit next to him. "How did you get your name anyway?" Rotor asked as the trio left for his lab.

***

As Quatrain and Katrina left for lunch and to write up Quatrain's report on what just happened, They heard running footsteps coming up to meet them. Turning around Quatrain saw Kytan catching up to meet them.

"I uh wanted to apologize for what happened back there." The striped feline said. "Nothing personal, I just sorta get overprotective of my partner at times." He laughed. "Just don't tell him that." Kytan held out his hand. "Truce? I won't hit you with fruit as long as you don't shoot at my partner."

Quatrain smiled and shook his hand. "Agreed, I'm sorry for that, I thought he was a real Overlander probe."

Katrina spoke up. "Now can I have M.A.X. over for lunch Uncle Q?" She asked.

"Sure, but I think he should get fixed up first, maybe dinner."

"Definitely make sure he gets repaired before dinner, without his night vision he'll wander back to Robotropolis before he finds your place."

"I'll remember that. Say, do you want to join us for lunch?"

"Naw, maybe another time. I'm gonna follow Sonic and Tails, I just have to find out what a chilidog is. But before I go, I didn't catch your names."

"My name is Quatrain and this is my niece Katrina."

"Nice to meet you under better circumstances, Mine's Kytan. Ceya around." And in a rush of black cloth he spun around and ran down the same path that Sonic and Tails had gone. Katrina pulling on his arm spun Quatrain around as soon as Kytan was gone reminded him just how much she was looking forward to lunch, and they headed towards Quatrain's cabin, she with a big grin on her face and he with fruit juice on his.

***

Sleeping…dreaming…

Night…hunting…slinking through the forest prey on his mind, those that sense his presence grow quiet, those that do not are quieted forever -- a scent! prey? Or something more? Between trees, through bushes, until he arrives there on a log, by a fire two of them, a kitsune watching the stars and another one…familiar…the feline looks his way! Sees him. 

Watches…watches…waits…

***

Tails weaved between trees, bridges and cottages high in the trees above Knothole, through gaps in the treetops he could see the stars sparkling in the night sky, seeing no clouds he knew that this would be a great night for stargazing. But when he approached his usual stargazing perch he saw that it was already occupied.

Upon closer inspection he recognized the now familiar orange and black striped fur of Kytan. He also noticed that Kytan was so intent on staring at the stars that he didn't even know Tails was there, so deciding to have a little fun Tails flew behind the tree and snuck up on him. Landing as quietly as he could on a branch right behind Kytan he prepared to ask a question and enjoy the reaction.

"Hi Tails, care to join me?" Kytan said without even turning around.

"Ahh, how did you do that?"

"Trade secret." He said as he twitched his ears.

Tails settled into a comfortable position seeing as how Kytan, leaning against the trunk of the tree, his legs stretched in front of him and his arms behind his head, and his tail hanging down from the branch slowly waving in the night breeze had taken his usual spot.

"And how did you get up here, I thought I was the only one who knew about this spot." Tails asked once he had settled in.

"Again, when you're in my trade, climbing up a tree is no big thing."

"Are you really a treasure hunter and a bounty hunter?"

Kytan turned from the convenient hole in the tree through which hundreds of stars shone and looked at Tails. "Yeah I am a treasure hunter, and I'm afraid to say I have done a little bounty hunting over the years, but only when I had to, its not something I'm proud of."

"Really? You're not? The only other bounty hunter I've ever met is Nack the Weasel and he sure enjoys his job."

"Yeah, maybe a little too much."

"You know Nack?"

"Yup, nice guy. Except for the fact that he would sell out his grandmother to the highest bidder."

Tails laughed. "You sure do know Nack."

"We've met on the few occasions I've done bounty hunting." Kytan put up a hand. "But the difference between me and him is I only take bounties where the target is someone who broke an actual law."

"Oh, cool. But I bet you have a bunch of exciting stories from your treasure hunting. Tombs, traps, angry villagers, and stuff."

Kytan laughed. "A few, but not as many as a Freedom Fighter like you, I'm not on the most wanted list of a major dictator." He paused. "Anymore." He paused again and scratched the bandage on his head. "That I know of."

Tails smiled, happy to be able to share some of his adventures with somebody who wasn't there at the time. "Well I've been a few places, done a few things."

Kytan waved an arm in Tails' direction and bowed. "Well, share with us unenlightened my many-tailed friend."

And so, while the moon made its nightly trek across the section of sky that the two adventurers could see Tails and Kytan traded stories of adventures, fights, and wondrous travels. After all the tales had been told the two just watched the sky in silence. And the only ones who conversed were a unevolved owl somewhere in the trees and the occasional night breeze that blew through the branches almost silently and quietly rustled the leaves above Tails' head and at Kytan's feet.

Kytan returned from the past and the stars to continue the conversation.

"How did you find this place? It's perfect for stargazing."

"You can get a decent view of the stars from the ground but there are too many lights down there, and too many people. So I searched around until I found a place that nobody knew and I thought that nobody could get here either cause its so far up." Tails answered then countered with a question of his own. "Why are you up here this late? I thought I was the only one awake."

Kytan paused for a second then answered. "I…. Couldn't sleep. I guess I'm just not used to sleeping indoors I've been camping out for a few weeks now. Plus I'm not used to going to sleep without having an argument…er conversation with M.A.X. first."

"Where is M.A.X. anyway? I've never seen a robot design like him before."

"I'm not surprised you've never seen his design before, he's built from an Overlander probe from the Great War. Definitely before your time. As to his whereabouts, Princess Sally told me he went to Rotor's workshop to get his damage assessed."

"Why do you have an Overlander probe from the Great War?"

"Oh, an old partner of mine built him, she just loves classic machines and robots and stuff, and she had a probe lying around so she used it. He's been a great asset to me too. Since he is small and can move on his own he's perfect for reconnaissance and helping me to explore complicated ruins and stuff. Plus I don't have to pay M.A.X. a thing."

Tails laughed and looked up at the moon again. "Woah, look at the time its later than I thought, G'night Kytan." At that Tails jumped off the branch and started to fly away." From behind him he heard: "G'night young kitsune." He turned around to ask what a kitsune was but Kytan had yet again disappeared. Tails sighed to himself. "How does he keep doing that?" But as he flew to his cabin he knew he would get no answer tonight.

***

Morning came and went in the Great Forest without any more conflicts. After lunch Sally decided to go to Rotor's workshop to see how the tests on the gun were going and for a routine checkup on Nicole. As she walked up to the cabin that housed his workshop she heard muted voices coming from within, upon opening the door she saw what the cause of the ruckus was. Rotor was having a heated discussion with St. John.

"You better have a very good reason for having that thing assist in the tests." St. John said trying to intimidate Rotor (notice I said _trying_.)

"I let him assist me because he has sensor equipment I don't, and can help me make a more detailed analysis of the gun's functions." Rotor said, beginning to lose his reserve, something that almost never happened.

"So you just let him around potentially dangerous equipment, and allowed him to assist in the tests on a weapon that he could corrupt."

"Yes, because of the assistance he provides and because I'm not as paranoid as you are."

"Where Robotnik is concerned, you can never be too paranoid. Now I suggest you remove him from the rest of the experiments."

"And I suggest you --"

Sally stepped forward and interrupted Rotor before he said something he'd regret (And I couldn't reprint.) "Hold on here, what's the matter?" She said as she took Nicole off her shoulder and placed her into the diagnostic/recharge unit that Rotor had invented for her.

St. John turned to Sally. "Princess, he has been allowing that probe of Kytan's to assist in his tests on the weapon"

"Is this true?" She asked Rotor.

"Yes it is Princess" Rotor responded truthfully, he has been an asset in learning about this new weapon of Robotnik's, anyway, he's had plenty of opportunities to betray us, and him and Kytan know enough about us to screw us over anyway. How is this going to make that much of a difference."

"I understand your reasoning Rotor, but maybe you should have been more careful or at least talked to me or St. John before allowing it to help you."

"Yes I understand Princess, and next time--"

"There won't be a next time Rotor." Said a metallic voice from the back room. M.A.X. floated in looking only a little better than the day before. "I have finished all the necessary tests on the gun; all information about it is on a disk on your table."

"Wow, thanks M.A.X." Rotor said and started to go into the other room to get the disk. "It sure is a good thing your here, it would have taken me days to gather all that information."

The Princess gave M.A.X. a confused look. "What do you mean there wont be a next time?"

"What I mean Princess is this; we're leaving, me and Kytan are packing up right now and going on our way.... As far away as we can."

"Don't think that you're just going to pack up and leave after all this stuff that's happened mate." St. John said pointing at M.A.X. "We're not letting you go that easily."

"You don't have much choice about.... Letting us go, as you so eloquently put it sir."

Sally stopped St. John before he started another argument, this time with a robot. "Why do you have to leave now? You were supposed to stay until you had your repairs, that's the deal that Kytan made with me."

"That _was_ the deal Princess, before I made a discovery that has convinced me that we must leave as soon as possible, for your sake and ours."

Sally got slightly worried and suspicious. "Why? What is it you discovered that makes you feel you should leave before both of you are at full strength, you still have considerable damage, and your partner suffered a slight concussion last night."

"Yes, and under normal circumstances we would stay as per our agreement with you...but these are anything but normal circumstances."

"What is it? What's are these new circumstances?"

M.A.X. paused for a second to consider this question as Rotor walks out of the back room his eyes wide in a shocked expression. "The weapon we retrieved from Robotropolis, the De-Evolutionary ray..."

"What about it robot? We know what it was supposed to do; we've been over this. He's up to something Princess, we can't trust him. I say we just--"

"Uh.... Princess.... The gun..." Rotor began.

"Is functional, it works." M.A.X. finished.

*** 


End file.
